Theoretical Perspectives on Immigrant Integration

The process through which immigrants are integrated into their destination societies falls within a larger discussion of the problem of social integration, surely one of the key elements in sociological thought since the early twentieth century. From the Durkheimian concern with the construction of the lien social to contemporary debates about threats posed by immigrants to the identities of their receiving or host societies, modern sociological outlooks might be classified according to their treatment of the processes of social integration and differentiation. Today, however, this discussion has taken on particular virulence and unexpected dimensions.

This debate has heated up because of the inevitable ties linking political philosophy, economics, and political science. That is, alongside the analysis of social integration or differentiation, any "integration project" implies a normative social vision. How much room should be afforded — or denied — to difference? What is the minimum degree of homogeneity required to guarantee social cohesion? What legitimate strategies guarantee the integration of new members into contemporary societies?

Thus, to take one example, some fundamental disagreements about the legal status of immigrant workers do not necessarily arise from different assessments of the extent or limits of these workers' integration, but rather stem from prevailing contradictions among the social ideals being pursued.

In order to contribute to this debate, we find it necessary, following Wieviorka, to distinguish among three levels of analysis that, although closely linked, belong to different realms of reflection. The first (a socio-anthropological perspective) is the analysis of concrete processes of social differentiation and integration in the context of specific historic realities. The second (political philosophy) involves the construction of models or ideals of integration, which can in turn point toward a third level (public policy), which is the creation of particular political projects.

Analysis of the specific processes that produce social differentiation constitutes a fundamental input to thinking about the societal ideal being pursued — what importance should be accorded to difference and what to the principle of equity — which in turn constitutes the point of departure for crafting strategies or public policies to promote integration. These three levels of thought, although tightly intertwined, follow three different logics that must be characterized as such.

Examining processes of social integration implies discussing the relationship between the individual and society, and more specifically the relationship between social integration and the principle of individuation. The society-individual relationship is key to analysis of the incorporation of immigrants into receiving societies because it highlights the bidirectional nature of this process: the migrant simultaneously "incorporates him- or herself into" the receiving society and "is incorporated by" it. Thus, consideration of this dialectic relationship can accord a central place to social subjects as actors in the processes of integration, without underestimating the force — sometimes a crushing one — that the society exercises over the individual who is seeking integration. Or, to use the formulation of Pastor and Ortiz, integration of immigrants may be defined as "improved economic mobility for, enhanced civic participation by, and receiving society openness to immigrants." Therefore it is fundamental to analyze both the immigrants' own capacity for action and the concrete actions of the society that receives them. We consider it of primary importance to employ this understanding of a two-way street — integration by the society and integration into the society — in any analysis of this process.

Equally, in examining varying analytical perspectives on integration, it is necessary to differentiate what importance each one accords to social change, distinguishing those perspectives that see society as a corps social from those that are focused on processes of integration. To what degree is the receiving society already a given, and to what degree is it under construction? What is the relative importance of immigration in the process of social change?

Following this general outline, with the goal of clarifying the theoretical framework that orients the present study, we shall first briefly review some of the major theoretical propositions that have guided thinking and debate about immigrant integration into host societies in recent decades. To make this discussion clearer, we divide these propositions into "classic theories" and "new perspectives." After this survey we will present the theoretical perspectives for analyzing economic, social, cultural, and political integration of immigrants that we have adopted in this book. Finally, in the last section of this chapter, we will describe our specific strategy for analyzing the integration processes of Mexican immigrants in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area.

CLASSIC THEORIES

Over the past four or five decades, a vast literature has emerged on the subject of the status and spaces accorded or denied to immigrants in so-called host societies. Although this output has included a wide range of theoretical and normative approaches, these can be classified into two broad categories: those that take social integration as the objective to be achieved, and those that, on the contrary, emphasize the pursuit of models for the management of difference, which is seen as a central component of society. The first category is commonly labeled assimilationism, while the second is associated with the multiculturalist perspective.

Historically speaking, early theoretical approaches to the analysis of immigrant incorporation in receiving societies were strongly influenced by the functionalist viewpoint, which ties integration to social cohesion. Still, even at this early stage, the Durkheimian perspective...